Method of shaping metal



R. V.- PROCTOR 'MEIHOD 0F SHAPING METAL Feb. 29 1944.

Filed Jan. 11, 1941 2 ShOtS-Shsst 1 I INVENTOR Robe/'1 kProcfor N 'L N vm "F Feb. 29, 1944. v R v PROCTQR 2,343,082

METHOD OF SHAPING METAL Filed Jan. 11, 1941 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 l :12 J7 Z mhwswrora J0 50 Robe r7 1/ Prpcfor Patented Feb. 29, 1944 METHOD OF SHAPING METAL Robert- V. Proctor, Youngstown, Ohio, assignor to The Commercial Shearing & Stamping Company, Youngstown, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application January 11, 1941', Serial No. 374,057

3 Claims. (Cl. 29169) This invention relates to the forging of metal bars and, in particular, to a method of converting; lengths of flat bar stock into completely finished articles, sucl'r as U-shaped rail anchors, in a single operation.

The apparatus disclosed herein is also disclosed and claimed in my application Serial No. 430,639,, filed February 12, 1942, for Apparatus for shaping metal, which is a division hereof.

The manufacture of certain articles used in large numbers, such as U-shaped, rail anchors, cannot be satisfactorily carried out by conventional methods such as cold bending, machining, etc., because of the character of the material, 1. e., alloy spring steel havinga substantial manganese content and a, high hardness. Hot forging of such articles by ordinary methods is open to serious objections. Difficulty is encountered in finishing the articles accurately to dimensions and, the presence of scale is also troubllesome. Forcing a heated bar between dies, furthermore, scratches the surface of the articles and causes excessive wear of the dies.

I have invented. a novel method for producing generally U-shaped articles from fiat stock of,

such composition that it has to be shaped while heated to a temperature suitable for forging, whereby the aforementionedv difliculti'es are overcome and the finished article may be turned out to accurate dimensions and without any marring of the surface, in a single operation. In a preferred embodiment. and practice of the invention, I employ av pair of spaced rolls and a punch reciprocabl'e therebetween. An anvil cooperating with th punch elfects a preliminary shaping of,

the stock after which descent of the punch, in cooperation with the, rolls, effects, the bending of the ends and finally the die-shaping of the latter. In one formof the invention the rolls travel downwardly in-timed' relation with the movement of the punch and, are. supported by hardenedsteel backing plates, mounted in a die-block. Further details: of the construction and operation of the apparatus and the performance of my improved method a-nd the advantages thereof will become apparent during the following complete description and explanation, and the novel features Will be specifically pointed out in the appended claims. In: thev drawings,

Figure 1 is a plan view of the die-bloclr and rolls with the. punchshown in section on a horizontal plane;v

Figure 2. is a partial sectional view taken sub,- stantially along the plane or line. H II of Figworking stroke.

Referring in detail to the drawings, the bolsterplate of a forging press is indicated at id. A dieblock H is supported on the bolster-plate blyv blocks l2. The block H has an opening I3 therethrough adapted to receive a punch M. The punch it has spaced rounded projections l5 at the lower end thereof between which is a reverse-curved recess l5.

Backing plates ll preferably of tool steel are disposed in opposite ends of the opening l3' and are braced by gusset plates i8; Rolls H] are adapted to bear against the plates ll as they move vertically within the opening it with the punch It. The necks of the rolls indicated at 20 are non-circular, e. g., hexagonal, and are provided with pinions 2!. Racks 2'2 are positioned in the opening i3 adjacent the necks of the rolls l9 and mesh with the pinions 21. The racks are braced by'gusset plates 23'.

The punch M is provided with racks 24 mesh ing with the pinions ii at the rear or upper ends of the rolls it, as shown in Figure 1.

Side plates 25 extend upwardly from both sides of the opening it adjacent each end thereof and support bridge plates 25 extending across the opening adjacent each end; The plates 26 have their adjacent edges recessed as at 21 and are thereby adapted to support a piece of flat bar stock 28 in position for engagement by the punch it;

An anvil 29 is mounted for reciprocation coaxially of the punch I l. The anvil may conveniently be carried on the piston 38 of a hydraulic hoist 3!. the anvil is to oppose the initial downward movementof the punch with sufficient force to deform the mid-portion of the work-piece 28' upwardly into the reverse-curved recess 15 of the punch. Asv shown in the drawings, the piston of the hoist extends through a suitable hole in the bolsterplate H);

To explain the method of my invention, which I prefer-to carry out by the aid of the apparatus described above, it will be assumed that the parts are in the positions illustrated in Figure 2 and that the Work-piece 23 has been heated in a suitable furnace to the proper temperature for hot shaping as by forging and rolling.

In any event, the function of The forging press with which the mechanism shown is asso-- ciated is then operated to drive the punch. l4;

downwardly. As previously indicated, the initial result is to shape the mid-portion of the piece 28 to a reverse curve between the anvil 29 and the reverse-curved recess I6 of the punch. The punch thus acts as a moving die.

The downward movement of the punch I4 is accompanied by similar movement of the rolls I9. The latter roll on the backing plates I! without slippage because, as shown in Figures 2 and 3, the pitch circles of the pinions 2| have the same diameter as the bodies of the rolls [9. Since the pinions roll on the racks 22 by reason of the downward thrust of the racks 24, the axes of the rolls I9 descend at a rate one-half the speed of the punch l4.

After slight downward movement of the punch I4, the ends of the piece 28 slip off the recessed edges of the bridging plates 26 and, as the punch forces the piece 28 downwardly against.

the upward pressure exerted by the anvil 29, the ends of the work-piece engage the bodies of the rolls l9. On continued movement of the punch, the ends of the work-piece are bent upwardly around the rounded projections l5, through an angle of about 90 into substantial parallelism. In addition to the recess IS in its bottom, the punch has die recesses 32 and projections 33 which become effective to shape the ends of the work-piece as the descent of the punch continues. It will be apparent that, since the rolls travel downwardly at a speed one-half that of the punch, there is rolling engagement without slippage between the bodies of the rolls and the ends of the work-piece. As the die recesses and projections 32 and 33 come opposite the bodies of the rolls I9, a progressive shaping of the ends of the work-piece is effected by the cooperation of the rolls and die portions of the punch. This shaping is accompanied by slight extrusion of the ends, so that the operation may correctly be termed a true die rolling.

. Figure 3 illustrates the condition of the workpiece as the parts approach their final positions. The anvil 29 cooperating with the recess IS in the punch has displaced the mid-portion of the work-piece upwardly to form an upward bulge or bearing portion of a rail anchor adapted to engage the bottom of the rail flange centrally. The ends of the work-piece have been bent into such position that. when sprung over the edges of the rail flange, they will have a firm frictional engagement therewith. The die projections 33 on the punch, furthermore, have formed flangereceiving slots on the inner faces of the finished article, such as the rail anchor indicated at 34. The anvil 29 is larger at its bottom than the piston 30 and the hole in the bolster plate through which the latter slides. The engagement of the anvil with the bolster plate thus limits downward movement of the anvil and punch. A heavy sizing blow is thus applied to the article 'by the momentum of the punch as the anvil stops on the bolster plate. After the punch has exerted this sizing blow, the press is operated to raise the punch with the completed anchor thereon and the rolls IS. The anvil 23 preferably remains in its lowermost position until the finished anchor has been removed from the punch by a suitable ejector traveling horizontally and parallel to the axes of the rolls [9. After the finished anchor has been thus removed from the punch, the anvil 29 is raised to the position shown in Figure 2, another heated piece of stock, such as that shown at.28, is placed in position and the operation repeated.

It will be apparent from the foregoing description and explanation that the invention is characterized by numerous advantages and novel features especially adapted for the manufacture of rail anchors, although it may be used as well for the forging of other articles involving the shaping and bending of bar stock. The possibility of finishing articles such as rail anchors accurately to dimensions by the process and apparatus of my invention has already been mentioned. The several bending and shaping operations are combined into a single continuous procedure which can be completed in a very short space of time, thereby making possible the production of articles such as rail anchors in large numbers and at low cost. A forging press of relatively moderate capacity is sufficient to perform the operations described since the thrust required to bend the ends of the 'bar by the action of the rolls is small compared tothe force that would be required to swage these portions in a fixed die. As already explained, the metal being shaped has only rolling engagement with the shaping surfaces of the punch and rolls, thereby avoiding scratching of the surfaces of the article. The extrusion of the ends of the work-piece prevents Widening of the ends of the article adjacent the flange-receiving slots and permits some economy in material since a shorter blank may be used than would otherwise be necessary. Difficulty with scale is avoided because there are no surfaces on which scale can accumulate. The cost of the apparatus necessary for operating in accordance with my method is much less than that of ordinary forging dies and the cost of maintenance is correspondingly reduced.

While I have illustrated and described only a preferred embodiment and practice of the invention, it will be understood that changes in the structure and procedure disclosed may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. As already stated, the invention is adaptable to the manufacture of articles other than rail anchors. Special shapes may be produced by varying the contour of the backing plates or the rolls themselves and matrix grooves may be formed in the latter to provide raised portions on the exterior of the finished article. The bending rolls, furthermore, might be stationary instead of movable and provided with suitable backing rolls if desired.

I claim:

1. In a method of making a rail anchor having spaced, substantially parallel sides with flange-receiving slots on their inner faces and an intermediate connecting portion with a re-entrant hump adapted to engage the bottom of a rail flange, the steps including displacing spaced portions of a straight bar adjacent the middle thereof in a predetermined direction relative to the mid-point of the bar, against an anvil, to form said hump, then moving the bar bodily in said direction between spaced rolls thereby bending the ends of the bar against said rolls in a direction opposite that of the displacement of said spaced portions thereof and continuing to move the deformed bar bodily in said direction between said rolls to die-roll said slots in the inner faces thereof, and thereby completing the shaping of the bar in one continuous stroke.

2. In a method of making a rail anchor having spaced, substantially parallel sides with flange-receiving slots on their inner faces and an intermediate connecting portion with a re-entrant hump adapted to engage the bottom of a rail flange, the steps including die-forging a straight bar to displace spaced portions thereof adjacent the middle in a predetermined direction relative to the mid-point of the bar, pushing said bar bodily between spaced rolls substantially continuously with said die-forging, thereby bending the ends of the bar against said rolls in a direction opposite that of the displacement of said spaced portions thereof, and continuing to push the deformed bar bodily in said direction between said rolls to die-roll said slots in the inner faces thereof, thereby completing the shaping of the bar'in one continuous stroke.

3. In a method of making a rail anchor having spaced, substantially parallel sides with flange-receiving slots on their inner faces and an intermediate connecting portion with a re-entrant hump adapted to engage the bottom of rection relative to the mid-point of the bar, to

form said hump, then advancing the punch in said direction between spaced rolls, continuously .with the initial displacing operation, thereby pushing the bar bodily between said rolls and bending the ends of the bar against said rolls in a direction opposite that of the displacement of said spaced portions thereof, and continuing to advance the punch relative to said rolls thereby die-rolling said slots in the inner faces of the bar between the punch and rolls, and completing the shaping of the bar in one continuous stroke.

ROBERT V. PROCTOR. 

